1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method of playing a card game, and more particularly to a method of playing a modified version of Twenty-One, (also known as Blackjack) wherein the player is able to play single or multiple hands against the dealer in either a video, computer game or an actual human game. The game of the present invention can be played in a casino as a card game or a video slot machine. Alternatively, it can be played on a computer and/or as an on-line gambling game over a Wide Area Network such as the Internet, as part of a Local Area Network (xe2x80x9cLANxe2x80x9d) or on a stand-alone computer.
2. The Prior Art
The objective of xe2x80x9cTwenty-Onexe2x80x9d is to have a hand where the sum of the value of each card comes as close as possible to the number twenty-one, without exceeding it. The game is typically played by one or more players against a house or dealer with the player making a wager on the outcome. The player""s hands which are less than or equal to twenty-one, and exceed the value of the dealer""s hand are the winning hands. Losing hands are all hands, which have a lower sum than the dealer""s hand and all hands that exceed the sum of twenty-one (called a xe2x80x9cbustxe2x80x9d). Tying hands resulting in no bets won or lost (called a xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d) are possible in the game of Twenty-One. A 2-card hand totaling twenty-one is called xe2x80x9cBlackjackxe2x80x9d.
The conventional method of playing Twenty-One involves one or more standard decks of playing cards, with each card worth its face value (Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth 10), except Aces, which are worth either one or eleven depending on which is most beneficial to the count of the hand. The dealer starts the deal by dealing two cards to each wager. The dealer also deals two cards to himself or herself. One of the dealer""s cards is dealt face up (called the xe2x80x9cup cardxe2x80x9d) and the other card is dealt face-down (called the xe2x80x9cdown cardxe2x80x9d).
A player may draw additional cards, known as xe2x80x9chittingxe2x80x9d, in an attempt to try to beat the count of the dealer""s hand. However, if the player""s hand exceeds twenty-one, then the player has xe2x80x9cbustedxe2x80x9d. The player can xe2x80x9cstandxe2x80x9d on any count of twenty-one or less. Once the player xe2x80x9cbustsxe2x80x9d, his or her wager is lost regardless of whether or not the dealer xe2x80x9cbustsxe2x80x9d. Each establishment has xe2x80x9chouse rulesxe2x80x9d which govern how the game is to be played, and in particular, when the dealer must xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d. House rules can vary from establishment to establishment or game to game. Usually, the dealer must xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d when he or she has less than seventeen. Some house rules require that a dealer hit when the dealer has an Ace and a six (or multiple cards adding up to six), known as a xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d seventeen (because an Ace can have the value of either eleven or one). Normally a dealer must stand on a xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d eighteen, nineteen or twenty.
If the dealer xe2x80x9cbustsxe2x80x9d, the player wins, regardless of the player""s hand, unless the player has xe2x80x9cbustedxe2x80x9d. If neither the player nor the dealer xe2x80x9cbustsxe2x80x9d, then the closest hand to twenty-one wins. If a player""s hand ties that of the dealer, it is called a xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d and the wager is not lost. Instead the bet is credited back to the player.
xe2x80x9cDoubling downxe2x80x9d is the procedure of a player doubling his or her original bet after his or her initial 2 cards are dealt, and then drawing a single additional card. In many gaming establishments the house rules restrict this option, often allowing it only if a player""s first two cards total ten or eleven. The three-card total becomes the player""s hand.
xe2x80x9cSplittingxe2x80x9d is the procedure of splitting a pair of cards dealt to a player""s hand into two hands, by making an additional wager equal to the original wager. One of those wagers is applied to each of the split hands. The player receives a new second card for each of the split hands and each hand is then played out separately. When xe2x80x9csplittingxe2x80x9d Aces, the player can usually receive only one additional card for each split hand, depending on the house rules.
xe2x80x9cInsurancexe2x80x9d is a procedure that is available when the dealer""s xe2x80x9cup cardxe2x80x9d is an Ace. After each player receives his or her first two cards and the dealer reveals his or her xe2x80x9cup cardxe2x80x9d, the player can wager one-half of the amount of his or her original wager as xe2x80x9cinsurancexe2x80x9d against the dealer having a xe2x80x9cBlackjackxe2x80x9d (a two-card twenty one count). If the dealer has xe2x80x9cBlackjackxe2x80x9d, the player loses the original wager and wins 2-to-1 on the insurance bet. On the other hand, if the dealer does not have a xe2x80x9cBlackjackxe2x80x9d the player loses the insurance bet and the round continues with respect to the original bet.
xe2x80x9cSurrenderxe2x80x9d varies according to house rules, but when allowed, permits the player to forfeit one-half of his or her bet after the player""s first two cards are dealt and evaluated against the dealer""s xe2x80x9cup cardxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,429 to LeVasseur discloses a xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d game wherein the player plays a single hand against multiple dealer hands. If the player is dealt a bad hand, he or she is likely to lose multiple hands, which could be less interesting than playing multiple player hands, at least some of which could be good hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,915 to Groussman discloses a xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d game whereby the player plays two hands against the dealer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,335 to Moody discloses a xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d game wherein a player plays two or three hands against a dealer and each hand is wagered separately and in a card by card fashion.
Hence, conventional Blackjack games are usually limited as to the number of hands, which can be played by a single player at the same time. This is because in conventional Blackjack, the number of player decisions required increase in proportion to the amount of hands played. Therefore a player attempting to play a large number of hands simultaneously in conventional Blackjack would be overburdened with decisions, causing the play to be very tedious and impractical. Hence, assuming that the maximum bet is placed on every hand, the number of hands that can be played at a time thereby limits the amount that can be wagered in a particular amount of time. Accordingly, such limited number of games can have a tendency to become less interesting to the player over time. Moreover, the revenues generated for the casino or establishments are somewhat limited by the number of hands which can be played by a player at the same time.
The present invention comprises a card game of xe2x80x9cBlackjackxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d, in which the player is able to play any number of hands (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9c1 to Nxe2x80x9d hands) against the dealer (either human or computerized), in a rapid and automatic fashion. Each hand played serves to multiply the amount being wagered. The player initially decides the number of hands to be played against the dealer, and the bet for each hand. As in conventional Blackjack, the player and the dealer are initially dealt two cards each. In the preferred embodiment, each of the player""s hands start out with the same initial two cards, and a separate set of deck(s) is used to deal the hits for each player hand, with the initial two player cards removed. Alternatively, the player can be dealt different sets of initial cards for each hand or multiple sets of the same cards for some, but not all of the hands being played. Decks of electronic simulations of the same number and type of cards found in a conventional deck of cards are each shuffled with a uniform random distribution. Other methods of shuffling electronic decks of cards known in the art may also be used.
Depending on the xe2x80x9chouse rulesxe2x80x9d of the game or establishment, the player then decides whether to double down, split pairs, take insurance or surrender. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, where the first two cards are the same for all player hands, any player action taken is automatically duplicated for all hands being played. Therefore any decision to double down split pairs, take insurance or surrender is then duplicated across all hands being played. Next the player predetermines whether or not to xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d, that is to draw additional card(s) to improve the player""s hands. If the decision is made to xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d the hands, the player selects the numerical value to which a hand will continue to be xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d (the xe2x80x9cstand valuexe2x80x9d). Once the value of each hand reaches or exceeds the selected level, the hand will no longer be automatically xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d. In the preferred embodiment, a special case is made for xe2x80x98softxe2x80x99 hands. If the player has a xe2x80x98softxe2x80x99 hand (an Ace with the value of 11) the soft hand is automatically hit until it exceeds soft 17 regardless of the xe2x80x9cstand valuexe2x80x9d selected. All hands will then be played out and all player hands will be hit until the hand reaches or exceeds the selected xe2x80x9cstand valuexe2x80x9d. The dealer then plays out his or her hand and the player hands are settled as in conventional Blackjack. In this way the player with a single decision can control the hitting of (1-n) hands with any strategy desired, eliminating the laborious card by card decision making process in the prior art.
In the preferred embodiment, the player has an additional option to xe2x80x9cauto-playxe2x80x9d the hand. In this case all decisions regarding splitting, doubling, insurance, surrender, hitting and standing are automatically computed by a computer. The advantage is the player has no decisions to make and can play very rapidly with a favorable strategy, without having any expertise in the game. By watching the auto-play run, the less skilled player can also learn how to improve his or her blackjack play decision-making.
An alternate version of the invention involves dealing all player and dealer hands from a single set of decks. This results in two different cards dealt to begin each player hand. The player then makes decisions whether to split, double, take insurance, or surrender depending on the house rules. These decisions could be made on a hand-by-hand basis, but this could prove very tedious when a large number of hands are involved. A more automated process of decision-making is described as follows.
The single insurance decision can be duplicated across all hands, since it is a bet on the dealer""s down card, and does not involve the player""s hand. If it is possible for the player to split any of his multiple hands, the player chooses to split, and then a ranking of split hands is displayed. Similar to the xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d selection previously described, the player with a single decision, decides to split all paired hands at or above a certain ranking, and not to split those hands below that ranking, (xe2x80x9cthe split valuexe2x80x9d). The player would base this decision on his interpretation of the strength of the dealer""s up card 28, as shown in FIG. 1A, for example. In this way, a near optimal strategy can be achieved with a single decision. Likewise, if a player elects to double, a ranking of doubled hands is displayed (11, 10, 9, etc.) and the player with a single decision elects to double all those hands at or above a certain rank (the xe2x80x9cdouble valuexe2x80x9d). Likewise, xe2x80x9csurrender valuesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cinsurance valuesxe2x80x9d can be set by the player so that all hands below a certain value are automatically surrendered and/or all hands above a certain value are automatically insured.
For example, doubling all hands 10 or greater would result in the doubling of hands of value 10 and 11 respectively. Again the decision would be based upon the player""s interpretation of the strength of the dealer""s up card. As in the preferred embodiment the player would have the option to have the computer auto-play the player""s hand based upon a computer executed strategy, removing all decision making responsibility from the player and speeding up play further. This would be attractive to the less skilled player.
Other versions of the invention can provide that each player is independently dealt different cards for each hand, without any intentional duplication of the hands. Moreover, rather than have each xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cstandxe2x80x9d decision being uniformly applied to each player hand, the player can be required or permitted to make independent decisions as to some or all of the player hands. The game of the present invention can be played on a conventional personal computer (xe2x80x9cPCxe2x80x9d) or a computer-controlled video game such as a video poker or slot machines, or manually dealt by a dealer. Other methods of play should be considered as being within the scope of the invention.
One version of the invention comprises a method of playing a modified version of Twenty-One (Blackjack) wherein a player plays and wagers on multiple hands against the hand of the dealer, using at least one conventional deck of 52 playing cards having established numerical values for each playing card pursuant to the applicable rules, comprising one or more of the steps of:
a) selecting the number of player hands to play against the dealer""s hand;
b) selecting the wager to be placed on the hands of the player;
c) dealing a preselected number of cards as a first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands and a first set of the cards dealt to the dealer""s hand;
d) determining whether to xe2x80x9cdouble downxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csplit pairsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ctake insurancexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csurrenderxe2x80x9d with respect to the player""s hand as allowed by house rules;
e) deciding the point value ranking to which the player""s hands will be hit to;
f) hitting at least one of the player""s hands automatically until the value of each hand is at least the point value or stand value;
g) playing out the hand of the dealer according to the applicable rules; and,
h) determining which of the player""s hands are wing hands.
The wager to be placed on the hands of the player can be equal for all player hands. The first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands are identical for each of the player""s hands and duplicated from multiple sets of decks of playing cards assigned to each of the player""s hands. The hitting of all of the player""s hands continues until the stand value is reached or exceeded on each hand, automatically. The first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands are randomly selected from different sets of decks and are not intentionally duplicated for all of the player""s hands.
The steps of determining whether to xe2x80x9cdouble downxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csplit pairsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ctake insurancexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csurrenderxe2x80x9d with respect to the player""s hand are automatically decided for at least one of the player""s hands. A point value ranking is selected by the player for one or more of these decisions, which is then automatically applied to all of the player""s hands. The first two cards dealt to each of the player""s hands are the same and comprise the preselected number of cards dealt as a first set of cards to each of the player""s hands. The preselected number of cards dealt as a first set of cards to the dealer""s hand comprises one card dealt face up and a second card dealt face down. The player can, in an alternative embodiment, play against multiple dealer hands.
Another method of the present invention comprises playing a modified version of Twenty-One (Blackjack) wherein a player plays and wagers on at least one hand against the hand of the dealer, using at least one conventional deck of 52 playing cards having established numerical values for each playing card pursuant to the applicable rules, comprising one or more of the steps of:
a) selecting the number of player hands to play against the dealer""s hand prior to the initial deal;
b) selecting the wager to be placed on the hands of the player prior to the initial deal;
c) dealing a preselected number of cards as a first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands and a first set of the cards dealt to the dealer""s hand;
d) electing to have the computer automatically play out the player""s multiple hands with respect to xe2x80x9cdouble downxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csplit pairsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ctake insurancexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csurrenderxe2x80x9d, and whether or not to xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d each hand, and how many cards to hit each hand with, and all other decisions with respect to the player""s hand;
e) playing out the hand of the dealer according to the applicable rules; and,
f) determining which of the player""s hands are winning hands.
The wager to be placed on the hands of the player can also be equal for all player hands. The first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands can be identical for each of the player""s hands and duplicated from multiple decks of playing cards assigned to each of the player""s hands. Hitting of all of the player""s hands until the value of each of the player""s hands is at least equal to the decided point value (or stand value) can be applied to each hand automatically. The first set of cards dealt to each of the player""s hands can be randomly selected from different sets of decks and are not intentionally duplicated for all of the player""s hands. Determining whether to xe2x80x9cdouble downxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csplit pairsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ctake insurancexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csurrenderxe2x80x9d with respect to the player""s hand can be automatically decided for at least one of the player""s hands.
The first two cards dealt to each of the player""s hands can be set to be the same for each hand and comprise the preselected number of cards dealt as a first set of cards to each of the player""s hands. Alternatively, only one card can be the same for all hands. Likewise, more than 2 cards can be the same for each of the player""s hands. The preselected number of cards dealt as a first set of cards to the dealer""s hand comprises one card dealt face up and a second card dealt face down. The player can alternatively play against multiple dealer hands.
The invention comprises a modified version of Twenty-One (Blackjack) wherein a player plays and wagers on at least one hand against the hand of the dealer, using at least one conventional deck of 52 playing cards having established numerical values for each playing card pursuant to the applicable rules in an attempt to result in at least one winning hand, requiring multiple strategic decisions which includes: a computing device for controlling or executing the game; a display device operably connected to the computing device; one or more dealer hands displayed on the display device; multiple player hands displayed on the display device; means for computing the numerical value of the player hands; means for determining whether any of the player hands are winning hands; and, means for preselecting a strategy for substantially automatically making subsequent strategic decisions for the player.
One version of the present invention is the modified version of Twenty-One (Blackjack) wherein a player plays and wagers on multiple hands against the hand of the dealer, using at least one conventional deck of 52 playing cards having established numerical values for each playing card pursuant to the applicable rules in an attempt to result in at least one winning hand, requiring multiple strategic decisions, and comprising: a computing device for controlling the game, and the computing device having a screen display. One or more dealer hands are displayed on the screen display and multiple player hands are displayed on the screen display. The computing device is capable of dealing additional cards to the dealer hand and said player hands. Means are provided for computing the numerical value of the player hands and the dealer hands. Means are also provided for comparing the player hands to the dealer hands and determining the winner as well as for electing to have one or more of the strategic decisions executed substantially automatically for the player. Means can also be provided for electing to have the strategic decisions preselected automatically for the player at the beginning of the game. That way, as decisions come up during play, such decisions are made for the player by the game, according to the strategy selected by the player or the game.
Means are provided for playing multiple player hands against at least one dealer hand. Means are also provided for computing the value of at least one of the player hands so as to reduce the number of computations to be made by the player. Also provided are means capable of substantially, automatically executing at least one of the strategic decisions for the player so as to reduce the number of strategic decisions made by the player.
There is often the need to streamline the play of conventional xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d games in order to allow a player to play multiple hands simultaneously in rapid fashion while minimizing the number of decisions that need to be made by the player. With conventional xe2x80x9c21xe2x80x9d, as a player becomes fatigued, the rate at which the decisions are made can decrease, thereby adversely affecting the pace and quality of play and tending to discourage that player and other players from continuing to play.
On the other hand, if too many decisions are automatically made for an experienced player, the player could lose interest because the game is not deemed to be challenging enough.
An object of the present invention is therefore to enable a player to play multiple hands at the same time, while adjusting the level of difficulty and if desired, tailoring the number and nature of the decisions to be made by the player if desired, so as to create greater interest for the player, through a perception of greater winning potential for the player and providing potentially greater revenues for the casino or gambling establishment.
It is another object of the present invention to enable a player to play a greater number of Blackjack hands and/or place a greater number of wagers in a period of time.
It is yet another object of the present invention to create an improved Blackjack game and game layout that can be played accurately and efficiently in a computer based, on-line gambling or video poker or slot machine game type format.
A further object of the present invention is to make it easier for the player to gamble for longer periods of time, since the conventional wisdom is that the longer a player plays, the more revenue will likely be generated for the casino or gambling establishment, on the average.
These and other objects will become apparent in light of the following specification, drawings and claims.